THE photograph of the old Buriganga channel beside the Hazaribagh fruit market in Dhaka that 抖阴精品 published on the back page on November 12 amply speaks of the vulnerable state of the channel, which has been encroached on, also blocking the drainage system in the area that falls under the jurisdiction of Dhaka鈥檚 south city authorities. The channel lost its glory long ago to encroachment and pollution. And whatever remains of the channel now is threatened because of the indolence of the relevant authorities. The photograph shows a swathe of the riverbed lying sand-filled, with concrete structures farther away and a dirt-filled, derelict swathe of green grass along the channel. Allegations are rife that this portion of the channel has been encroached on to make the fruit market more spacious. Whilst all this has happened, the authorities concerned have either turned a blind eye to the encroachment or the steps that they have taken over the years have failed to keep the channel free of encroachment. But the point that the photograph shows alone is not the problem at hand; there are other patches that have made the headlines for being encroached on.
The channel was originally a connection between the River Dhaleshwari and the River Turag, which formed a vital part of the Buriganga network. It is reported that the channel was navigable until the late 1990s and used to be part of the waterway transport network. The water was clean. But the channel, the last stretch of the old Ganges, now lies choked. The Dhaka South City Corporation took up a project to clear the illegal structures erected along the path of the channel. The project also aims to enhance the beauty of the area and to reduce the water stagnation problem in the surroundings, such as Hazaribagh, Lalbagh, Dhanmondi and Kamrangirchar. The project was initiated in June 2022, but there has not been any noticeable progress in its implementation. When the project had been some months into its implementation, green campaigners said that only protection of the channel was not enough. The old Buriganga channel would, rather, need to be excavated in accordance with the Cadastral Survey to revive its old glory. Green campaigners also urged the authorities to stop providing utility services to the structures erected illegally on the old channel to stop the encroachment. The demands that the green campaigners then made appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
It is time that the authorities pulled up their socks to stop the encroachment on and pollution of the old channel. The dirt-filled swathe with structures illegally erected on it would, otherwise, stand to tell of their glaring failures.